Answers to some commonly asked questions

What is Move It! LLC?

We are a growing organization of Cassia community volunteers and landowners dedicated to protecting private property rights in Cassia County and encouraging projects for the public good be placed on public land.

What is the message your group is trying to convey?

This massive power line project could forever change the look, the feel, and the personality of Cassia County.

We understand the need for electric power and transmission in the West. We believe it is for the public good.

BUT if it IS for the public good, then it should be placed on public land.

How will this project affect CassiaCounty? (this is a community-wide, county-wide concern, it is not only the concern of affected landowners)

If this massive project is built on Idaho Power’s proposed route, it will potentially affect hundreds of landowners.

In some cases it will be sited over the top of people’s houses.

It will cut through dozens of miles of prime farmland with center-pivot irrigation systems on them.

Cuts directly through some existing dairy feedlots and barns.

The tower structures required for this size of project stand between 150 and 190 feet tall – the height of a fifteen-story building.

To give you perspective: the delivery line power poles we see next to the roads and near our homes are 35-40 feet tall.

These are massive lattice structures that are visible for miles. They require a forty foot by forty foot base to support them.

These lines give off stray voltage, electrifying objects beneath and around them:

We are concerned about the effects of stray voltage on humans

On cattle

On our or sophisticated center-pivot irrigation systems, which are of course made of metal and rely on sophisticated electronic and electrical equipment

Why is Idaho Power so intent on placing this project on private land as opposed to public land?

The Federal Environmental processes required for siting projects on public land has gotten to the point that it is probably easier, and perhaps less expensive, to purchase or condemn private property than to go through the federal processes.

Less than 50% of the total Gateway West project is on public land.

And in those cases ONLY because it is absolutely unavoidable.

This project illustrates the conflicting nature of national priorities and highlights the debate over the best and proper use of public lands.

National energy security is clearly a priority today.

But the established priorities for national environmental and threatened species protection on public lands clashes with the need and desire for energy.

For example, these power line projects cannot be placed within two-thirds of a mile of a potential sage grouse lek (nesting site), but can be placed within 150 feet of a human dwelling.